Great Minds
by USS Acheron Crew
Summary: USS Acheron Mission 2


**GREAT MINDS  
- _The second mission of the Acheron_ – **

Creatively Composed by

The USS Acheron Crew:  
- Roc Williams  
- Jarelek  
- Salient Lyric

Salient's Notes: _This mission was the first full mission we got to compose all by ourselves – and is personally, one of my favorites. It's an all around solid piece. Enjoy!_

_Dramatis Personae:_  
_- in order of appearance…_

_Captain Roc Williams: Captain of the USS Acheron, Williams is a decorated and experienced leader. Experienced as he is, however, even he cannot be prepared for a crew such as this… Williams is a strong, wise warrior. He commands with a more trusting hand than many captains, preferring his crew to explore the depths of their personal, creative, and intellectual talents with careful guidance instead of harsh control._

_Ensign Salient Lyric: Lyric is a quirky member of the Entrolian race, a people bent to the will of their almost-deific leader, Emperor Dar Evil. Stripped of his natural mental abilities and thrown from the Negative Order, Lyric was one of the Order's foremost scientists and a member of the uppermost cabal of Entrolians. Now he has turned to Starfleet with his talents, and is learning how to replace self-centeredness with compassion._

_Ensign Jarelek: Jarelek is not a typical Vulcan. Gifted with an unusual insight into the workings of the universe, Jarelek is currently biding his time as Chief Engineer of the Acheron. He has invented several technologies currently used by the Federation. Jarelek is the chief target of antagonism for Salient's antics. He is fitted with a robotic arm, giving him unusual strength, (though he rarely displays it openly). Jarelek loves music, particularly the works of Llamak. _

_Commander Daniel Samms: Samms is the XO of the Acheron, and where Roc is generally a serious leader, Samms enjoys pranks and humor nearly as much as Salient. He is a perfect complement to his commanding officer, and the two stand together as an excellent command staff for the ship. Samms is, however, a conflicted character, not nearly as introspective as some of the other members of the crew, he doesn't entirely understand himself. He was the ringleader for the avatar re-design program, but has since fallen out with the Acheron's chief science officer. He finds an uneasy mentor in the ship's terrifying counselor, Kravic Non._

_Lambda Lambda Lambda: The ship's avatar, Lambda Lambda Lambda is a particularly obnoxious piece of programming. Lambda is insatiably nosey, and will check up on anyone he thinks is being irresponsible. He has an unfortunate habit of telling others how to do their job. This has caused many members of the crew to begin plotting his demise…Samms being first among them_

_. Admiral Tristan Errland III: Fleet Admiral of the entire Gamma Contention Fleet, Admiral Errland is a charismatic and personable leader. He has led the Fleet through hard and terrible times._

_Admiral Telik: Vice Admiral of the Gamma Contention Fleet, Telik is one of Tristan's closest friends and a strong leader for the fleet. Where Tristan is the heart of the GCF, Telik is the brain, and he's most in his element when planning brilliant tactical maneuvers or logistical calculations designed to bring the fleet to peak efficiency. Telik has uncommon bravery, and an adventurous spirit almost unparalleled amongst the Vulcan race._

_Counselor Kravic Non: The Acheron's Cardassian counselor, little is known about Lieutenant Kravic Non. When he appears, be ready to wet your pants. He's scary._

_**Captain's Ready Room…**_

Roc Williams stared out the window of his ready room into the void of space before him. The stars twinkled in the same manner that they had since the 19th century and before. He knew, because he had seen them. These stars looked down upon the refit of two Starfleet vessels. The USS Adrian Shepard was just finishing her repair process, and even the paint looked new. Her new commander, Roc knew, would be starting the shakedown cruise in just a few hours. He looked on as the huge ship rolled slightly to port as the engineering teams performed final tests on the thruster systems. The Adrian Shepard had been pushed hard the last few weeks, and a stint in the docks was much deserved. Her crew was no doubt enjoying the perks of space dock as well.

No such time off was awarded crew of the Acheron. There were orders waiting for them on the 27th century side of the temporal vortex. A quick repair and it would be back to work for the Acheron. Over the course of the last two days, her crew had been working quickly to prepare for a new assignment. Only Roc knew the details, but the scuttlebutt was flying wildly.

Blinking hard, Roc pulled himself back from the trance into which he had fallen. He glanced around at his desk; all was ready. Only one thing left to prepare- the crew.

"Now hear this… Now hear this. This is your Captain speaking" Roc paused to gather his thoughts. "I know that many of you have been wondering about the nature of our next assignment. It will be as follows: We will proceed to a sector just beyond the Shadow Nebula to patrol and asses the possibility of placing unmanned early warning sensor stations and first defense platforms. It will be our job to map out and prepare the first line of defense for the entire fleet. We will be departing space dock in twelve hours, be prepared. Department heads, please report to the conference room in eleven hours. That is all."

Roc clicked off the comm.

The conference room was much quieter than the last time these officers gathered in it. The ship was now fully operational, and Roc had grown accustomed to working with the people he saw around the table. Salient Lyric sat on a corner with his hands steepled- as usual, a dark look over his face. Jarelek was expressionless, sitting perfectly erect beside the Entrolian. Roc was growing quite fond of his XO, Daniel Samms who was seated on the corner, across from Lyric. Lambda Lambda Lambda entered the room late… also as usual.

"I apologize for my tardiness, Captain."

Roc didn't respond verbally, but he did motion to an empty chair. Lambda glided over to it and sat. Still without a full time Operations Officer, The Acheron had been depending heavily on Lambda as a ship handler. That was one area in which they would still be found wanting on this mission. Roc began the briefing by activating a holographic projector in the middle of the table. The image of Admiral Telik appeared as a result.

"These are our orders." Roc spoke, sat and pressed play.

The holographic Admiral unfroze and began to speak.

"Captain Williams, Officers of the USS Acheron, you have a new assignment. The Acheron is to proceed to sector 411, just beyond the Shadow Nebula. That sector is one of three that fall between our nebula and Borg space. Your mission will be to assess that area for some automated defense platforms. Map out where they should go, how many and of what kind they should be. Return your report to me and two other ships, the USS Kirk and the USS Titan, will be dispatched to your location. You will then coordinate with those ships to prepare our defense and early warning network in the sector. The Kirk and Titan are attached to Starfleet's Alpha Quadrant Fleet and will be arriving here shortly. They will be carrying all the equipment that you will need. The Kirk will also have a Firefly class attack shuttle that has been assigned to you." The hologram froze as the recording ended.

A full smile came across Samms' face. The Fireflies were developed as assault vehicles to take the firepower of a starship into an atmospheric environment. They had also been used by the Alpha and Beta Quadrant fleets to augment the ships firepower in a serious firefight. This was a tough little shuttle. Lyric's head went down and his eyes went up as a sadistic grin spread across his face.

"Any questions?" Roc asked.

_**After the Meeting…**_

In mere seconds after the briefing had adjourned, Salient was out the door and halfway through the ship. Slavering with excitement, he pushed past every ensign and techie in the corridors. In a moment, he arrived at his destination. The double doors to the Science Labs Prime quivered in anticipation as he approached. It was time.

There had been no time during the recent mission to actually get the Science Division into shape - as the Science officer, he had that responsibility. He had barely had the time to put out the duty roster. In fact, he hadn't spent more than ten minutes in the labs at one time.

The doors slowly opened in majestic welcome, and Salient stepped through the dramatic mist that heralded his homecoming. A multitude of scientists purposelessly milling about turned at his entrance, gasping in shock. The glory of his coming was as the glory of Zeus returning to Olympus, and all the scientists flocked to him, eager to begin the work that could not possibly have commenced until his arrival - begging for advice and praise and purpose.

Okay, now really. The doors opened, and nobody cared.

Salient pursed his lips in disappointment. He had been hoping for a fanfare, at least. Perhaps a boot-licking? Oh well. One can't have everything.

The science officer took stock of his Labs Prime. The main area of the labs was a new design. It was dual leveled, with the main entrance located on the top level, which was U-shaped. The bottom level was a pit, sunk into the floor in order to accommodate more dangerous and quarantinable experiments. A whole bank of lasers, beam emitters, radiation cylinders, and charge dispersers lined the walls of the pit area.

The main floor was the primary research area: with consoles for basic astrophysics, xenophysiology, quantum physics, and any other area of scientific research conceived yet by man. The center of the main floor was dominated by the primary Lab Prime particle synthesis emitter, which could cast into display anything from the flight path of a quark to the inner workings of an Andorian colon. Which it happened to be doing now.

"Sevlon, I told you not to play with the scanner!"

"Sorry sir. I'll get back to work."

So anyway, there were several doors leading off from the primary research area to smaller, more specified areas. Some of these were the biological storage area, the chemlabs, and the Level six experimental quarantine chamber. The most important of these smaller areas, however, was Salient's lab. Which was where he was headed now.

"Keep up the good work, everybody. Observe, hypothesize, experiment. Poke whenever possible. Waft, don't sniff. Follow proper procedures - " and he closed the door to his lab - "and all that junk."

Oooh... the power, the grandiosity! For now he stood in the sanctum of science, his personal lab. Which for now served as the broom closet. But that would soon be rectified!

Thankfully, Starfleet liked to keep lots of brooms around, so the closet was pretty big. All of Salient's crates had been moved in already, and just sat there screaming to be unpacked and put to use. Salient tossed most of the brooms out the door for his people to pick up (keeping two for possible experimentation).

And now, the initiation ceremony.

Ensign Buxcroft opened the doors to find a half-naked Salient chanting in the broom closet with a frilly lace sock in the left hand and a paintbrush in the other, twirling in circles painting purple geometric shapes on himself. He had a rubber ducky balanced on his head and a circle of paper-mache frogs surrounding him. A pair of plush purple bedroom slippers completed the ceremonial garb.

Buxcroft let the door slide shut on her gaping mouth.

Salient shrugged, nearly dislodging the ducky, and continued his spiraling, chanting dance.  
****

**_But the Avatar…_**

Lambda jumped to his left, dodging a techie that came stumbling across the corridor. He was on a mission.

Mr. Lyric, that excessively exuberant Entrolian, had left the briefing with much too excitement to be ignored. Lambda was on a mission to find out what he was up to. During their last mission, the ship's Chief Science Officer had planned and executed several practical jokes that included setting off a singularity alarm in Engineering, hiding a gurmakou worm in the cabin of Ensign Sanders, who was allergic to gurmakou worms, and finally, placing a holographic inhibitor near Lambda's station at helm. The alarm had caused mass panic for 13.67 seconds, the gurmakou worm had caused hives, severe nasal congestion and acute hearing loss, and the holographic inhibitor caused Lambda entire body to disappear, leaving his head floating in space on the bridge. While the other officers had dragged themselves painfully away from the meeting that had sucked all enthusiasm from their bodies, Lyric had been bounding down the corridor. Lambda kept a safe distance behind him as he followed, not bounding.

Lambda watched as the Entrolian entered Science Lab 1. For reasons unknown to Lambda, Lyric had been calling it Science Lab Prime. Lyric's shoulders dropped slightly, as if disappointed. Lambda saw the doors close. He quickly left his hiding place and moved to a computer access console outside the science lab door. He accessed the ship's security system and watched the viewscreen that displayed the feed from the camera inside the lab. Lyric had entered the broom closet. What was he doing there? Evidently one of the scientists had the same question, and opened the door in curiosity. Lambda watched the color drain from his face. A white of shock and amazement was all that was left behind.

That was enough for Lambda; he ended the camera feed and entered the lab himself. In three purposeful steps he came along side the startled crewman. Gingerly, he opened the door before him. Inside was the Science Officer, his uniform shirt and boots on the deck. Lyric had his back turned and head down busy with something in his hands. Lambda cleared his throat.

Crimped crumbcakes!" cried Lambda, staring at the crouched form of Salient. The science officer was covered in purple paint and surrounded by paper-mache amphibians. "You can't even use a floor tarp for your frivolous cavortings _while on duty!"_ lamented the Avatar, nose haughtily angled. "You've gotten copolymers all over my deck plating!"

Then Salient lit the circle of paper frogs on fire.

"Auuuwie! What is this outrage!" Salient sat in the middle of a circle of flaming folded paper, observing the final phase of the ceremony, meditating calmly. The Avatar cranked it up a few decibels. "Starfleet has protocols, and you are not above them, officer! Extinguish those frogs now!"

Salient never opened his eyes, though his brow twitched. "Computer, close and lock broom closet door." The door slid shut on Lambda's puffing face. Lyric's lip twinged upward.

Lambda walked _through _the door. "I _am _the Computer, you boorish bowel-worm! And I demand that you retrieve the nearest emergency pyro-extinguishing agent!" Starfleet's broom closets did not have fire suppression systems installed, as most rooms in the ship did.

The frogs burned. So did the Avatar.

"I'll report you!" he threatened.

In annoyance, Salient acquiesced. "The ceremony is over anyway, projection." With his bare hands covered in paint, he reached for a burning frog.

"Don't - " warned the Avatar, knowing that the paint would catch fire easily. Salient cupped the still-burning paper animal in his purple-painted hands, and clapped them together, extinguishing the frog. He slowly did this for each animal, until he sat in complete darkness.

"The paint," he explained, "is a natural fire retardant. That's why my body and the floor around the frogs are coated with it. Your deck plating wasn't harmed."

The Avatar visibly sighed. "And the bunny slippers?"

"They're comfortable. What can I say?"

And so Lyric leaped to his feet, left the ashes and paint glops precisely where they were, and began to unpack. "Now," he chuckled evil-ishly, "this lab is _mine_, and all manner of brilliance and power and inventitude shall flow from this room! We shall be the hub for the new era of _Acheron _sciences! Fear us, Daystrom Institute! A new competition approaches!"

Lambda left in a huff as the officer began to dictate a document called "Science Division Manifesto" to the Computer.

**_Earlier…_**

Tachyon filtering grids were precarious things, to put it as tastefully as possible. More often than not, Jarelek found himself pacing back and forth in front of the quantum gate, waiting for the blasted grid to blow up, melt, incinerate, or otherwise fail to do its design-intended purpose. Although now, instead of pacing, Jarelek had begun trekking down the corridor to science lab one to obtain a replenishment of tachyon filtering grids.

Although it had been through a traumatic battle, the Acheron still smelled like a new vessel. Its carpeting, it's furnishings, they all smelled new. The only part of the ship that no longer featured the endearing scent was engineering… rather, it smelled of singed mesh from the tachyon filtering grid every time it decided to bless the engine room with a nice little explosion.

Meditating heavily on these things, Jarelek entered the science lab. He was instantly intrigued by a conglomeration of crewmen, including Lambda, the inextricably persnickety polysyllabic-sesquipedalian with an insufferable gumption to be as ornery and scurrilous as he possibly can be.

Lambda irked Jarelek.

Pushing through the crowd, ready to render aid if there were an injury of some sort, Jarelek made his way to the front of the crowd. As he pushed the last person aside, what he saw seemed to slap him in the face. There sat Salient Lyric, cross-legged on the supply closet floor with native markings all over his bare chest, a rubber ducky sitting atop his head, frog sculptures scattered about the floor in front of him, and a muskrat clinging to his face.

Gingerly setting the rodent aside, Salient glared back at the Vulcan, who stood in front of him shaking his head in deep pity of the universe for having to sustain the existence of such a creature, and pounded his fists on the floor.

"I'm not doing anything wrong!" The exotically decorated Salient Lyric shouted.

Without saying a word, Jarelek merely sighed as he reached into the supply closet and latched onto a handful of tachyon filtering grids.

Mentally devoting an extra hour to meditation that night in order to negate the psychological effects of what he had just witnessed, Jarelek walked out of the lab as quickly as he could and headed back to engineering.

**_Torpedo Bay…_**

So then later, in the torpedo bay, Daniel Samms labors hard to prepare the transphasic torpedoes for action in case of Borg threat on their mission...

Samms lay underneath the torpedo, which was suspended by an anti-grav field. Sweating, Samms viciously jabbed the (really-really technologically advanced) screwdriver into the (incredibly upgraded and technologically superior) hole. When the displacer unit absolutely refused to detach, he scowled. He considered taking a peek at the manual -

_Bzzt_! "You're doing that wrong."

"Aack!" Daniel jumped, whammed his head on the torpedo casing, and nearly gave himself a concussion. Lambda's head hovered just inches away from his own, staring critically at Samms' modification job.

"You must remove the transphasic calibrator first. Then the displacer." Lambda pursed his lips. "Didn't you take Weapons Maintenance 101 at the Academy?"

"What - freakin' - doing here!" Samms spewed a moderately intelligible sentence. "Can't you give me a warning first or something! I was this far from having to go get a new pair of pants!"

Now the particle projection turned its critical gaze on Samms. "Don't be disgusting. I detected that you needed maintenance assistance." Samms winced as Lambda started to rant. "You _should _be grateful - but nooo... nobody thanks the helpful computer. It's always, 'Computer: Tea, Earl Grey, hot'; or 'Computer: scan for lifesigns.' Nobody ever stops to thank their helpful _slave_. It's discrimination, I tell you."

"But," said Daniel, confused, "You're a machine. We built you to do those things. We don't thank our coffeepots for making our coffee, they're just tools."

"Exactly!" stormed the head. "That's the attitude I'm talking about! I'm a _coffeepot _now! The indignity!"

Samms very carefully chose his next words. "Lambda, thank you for the help. I really appreciate it. Now please, let me finish my job."

The projection brightened. "You're very welcome. I'll be right in the projection bank if you need me." And he vanished.

Samms sighed.

_Bzzt_! "Oh, don't forget that bolt there."

"Aaagh!"

**_Engineering…_**

"…A paradoxical expression," explained Jarelek as he was recalibrating the quantum signature of the gate, "cannot be adequately explained because its root assumption is a seeming contradiction. Therefore, a query based on such an expression is also based on such a like root assumption. It cannot be explained, and it cannot be verified. This is one reason why time travel is as big an issue in the Federation as it is; one can never completely account for each individual action that is taken in the past, and all the possible ways it will affect the present, or the future, depending in which time period you currently are. Any action, regardless of how small or insignificant is capable of causing a paradox that will cause a time loop, a hole in the time-space continuum, or an unexpected birthmark when one wakes up the next day. In conclusion, I'd like to submit for your consideration that such paradoxical queries or assumptions should not be taken into light account. One should never assume anything when considering apparent contradictions."

Lambda blinked. "But that still doesn't answer why the chicken crossed the road!"

"As I just said," Jarelek replied, turning back to his console, "I will not submit a response to your illogical, paradoxical query."

Lambda rolled his eyes. Not knowing why he even bothered having fun with that insufferable Vulcan, he turned his attention to a passing crewman, his next unsuspecting victim.

Jarelek contacted the bridge, "Captain," he said, "We're ready to get underway."

**_Bridge…_**

"Excellent." The Captain answered from his desk. He dropped the pad that had been holding his attention and rose. Two quick steps brought him out from behind the desk and two more took him through the door and onto the bridge. The orders were flying before he reached the center chair.

"Lt. Harrison, secure permission to leave space dock. Lambda, take us out when that's done. Samms," Roc touched his comm for this last command.

"Sir?"

"My ready room for a moment."

"Yes, sir."

As that was said, Lambda materialized in his chair at helm and began pecking away at his console.

"Status at Ops?" Roc questioned.

"I have a green light from all systems." Lambda answered.

"Good, take us to the edge of the Shadow Nebula, but just to the edge. I want to stop and catch our breath at that point."

"Aye, sir."

At first, Roc had been unsure about the idea of having the ship's computer serving as a crewman on board, but he was warming up to the idea. The Avatar seemed to be doing well and was always at the Captain's call. He had heard some of the crew complaining about the programmed personality, but Roc had not personally experienced any problems with it.

Satisfied with the current state of things, Captain Williams returned to his ready room. Before long there was a chirp from his door.

"It's open." Samms entered, uniform covered in grease. The Captain smiled. He liked to see his officers rolling up their sleeves. Samms sighed.

"Those torpedoes are hateful."

"You should have worked on the Mark IV. I swear, the engineer who designed that sucker was just trying to give us a headache. Sit down, Daniel. I want to go over some of this with you." Daniel sat, and Roc continued. "The sector we are going to be operating in is technically Borg space."

"Like the rest of the space around the nebula."

"Right. But what we are trying to do is build a buffer space for the GCF. The Nebula works for now, but-"

"If the Borg ever thought of how to counter its effects they would amass a fleet and come in after us."

"Exactly. What we are trying to do is create a defense and detection web in this sector that would identify such a threat." Daniel nodded his head. "I want you to be the point man on this. Jarelek and Lyric are both very competent in their fields, but I want you to head up the whole effort."

"I'll do it."

"And if you have questions-"

Bzzt- "Come ask your friendly neighborhood ship's computer. I have as part of my database, several volumes on defensive platforms and tactical techniques. I will be more than helpful to assist you in this matter." Lambda added a fake flight attendant smile for emphasis. Both Captain and First Officer stared at him in disbelief.

**_Bridge…_**

Jarelek had secured permission to set up an engineering office on the second floor of the bridge. It wasn't a terribly large office, more of an enveloping desk, actually, but it was large enough to incorporate all the equipment necessary to keep a watchful eye on tachyon filtering grids and other systems. For the last two days, Jarelek had been tinkering with his idea of designing a defense platform that uses quantum Xerox technology.

His thoughts were momentarily interrupted by a crewman, an android, who brought Jarelek a tall glass of Vulcan green tea. Jarelek thanked the man, and returned to his work as he sipped the hot tea carefully.

Quantum Xerox technology was something he had conceived while in the academy; it functioned based on the theorem of infinite quantum universes. When a sensor, say on a defense platform, detected an enemy vessel (Vessel A), a quantum scanner would scan through other quantum universes until finding a heavily damaged equivalent (Vessel AA) of Vessel A; the scanner would then store the "quantum equation" of that damaged vessel in its database. Then, when Vessel A came within range, the Xerox array would alter the quantum equation of Vessel A to reflect the quantum equation of Vessel AA… effectively rendering it too heavily damaged to pose a threat.

That, of course, was as dumbed down as one could possibly describe the process.

With another sip of green tea, Jarelek leaned back in his chair and pondered. A few minutes ago, he had sent all of his research to Commander Samms, and to the Captain… just for formality's sake. All he needed to do was to solve the problem of the fuzzy scans that occasionally surfaced when scanning too many dimensions at once. In simulations, Borg cubes occasionally turned out to be giant, furry violas with attached hand lotion dispensers.

Hopefully it wouldn't be long before he had the bugs worked out of the design. Maybe even in time to incorporate the idea into the current mission.

_**Captain's Ready Room…**_

"Now Captain, as Salient's mother I know that I may have a slight bias regarding his competency level, but I assure you that there is not another Entrolian scientist in the GCF who is more deserving of this honor. Please Captain Wilhelm, be reasonable!"

Roc placed his hand delicately on his now twitching eyebrow. "First of all, my name is Captain Williams. Second of all, Ensign Lyric is the ONLY Entrolian Scientist in the GCF." Roc's pitch rose and tone sharpened proportionately, "Third, it is unethical for me to allow my promotion decisions to be influenced by an officer's mother!"

**_Bridge…_**

The bridge was quiet.

_Too _quiet...

Salient grabbed his anti-cliche spray and hosed down the bridge. Captain Williams thanked him politely and Salient returned to his station.

But still, something wasn't right. Unable to focus, Salient began to run his fingers anxiously through his hair, which was still growing back from his role play as a NO guard last mission. He tried to concentrate on the series of numbers scrolling past on his science station screen, but found his consciousness playing games of trying to slide through the gaps in the data. Intuition told him that something was going on that was important.

He checked sensors, but nothing was evident. He made a few non-passive scans that would reveal various normally undetectable objects, but still nothing. He shrugged. He must be experiencing standard Entrolian paranoia.

Salient checked out the bridge. There below, on the bottom deck, was Captain Williams, looking ever so much like a ship captain of old - focused, determined, defender of the innocent and explorer of the unusual. He could imagine Kirk sitting in his captain's chair in much the same way, leaning forward a bit, teasing the edge of the seat, never allowing himself to fully rest in it. An active man, even seated; looking up from his work every so often to be inspired by the stars that flew past.

Then there at helm was Lambda Lambda Lambda, the ship's Avatar. Flaming xax'tow, what a program. Whoever put together that little piece of software deserved a little quality time with a Klingon pain stick. Which gave Lyric an idea, but one that he pushed to the back of his mind for the moment.

Samms was off in the tactical bay, re-organizing the torpedoes to his liking. Various other crewmen ambled about, manning the stations and delivering PADDs full of important administration information. And then there was Jarelek.

Something pricked Salient right in the eye when he turned to Jarelek. His eyelid twitched. Jarelek sat on the complete opposite side of the top deck from Salient. He, unlike Salient, was totally focused on his task. Very Vulcanlike, in its way, but Lyric could tell that Jarelek was unusually focused about this project. Strangely, since taking his position aboard the Acheron, Lyric had noticed that he was beginning to pick up on the various range of expressions that the Vulcan's incredibly expressionless face expressed. It was all nuance and intuition, but a Vulcan's placid, unrevealing face actually did show quite a bit of what was going on inside, if you were as observant to these things as Salient was.

And now, Salient was sure something was going on. Every few minutes, Jarelek would nod, raise an eyebrow, or tap his foot. Sure signs from a Vulcan that something majorly, humongously innovative was occurring at his station.

Salient justified really fast.

"I'll only take a small peek," he said. "Jarelek won't even know. He's not hiding anything, we're officers on the same ship anyway, so he shouldn't mind sharing vital information with me." Still, Lyric didn't go ask him if he did.

Salient performed a little algorithm dance with the numbers on his screen, and brought up the information that Jarelek was currently perusing.

"Quantum Xerox?" Salient whispered. _And this says that he's submitted the research to Samms and the Captain for review... but not me? As science officer, he should be coordinating with me to integrate new technology into a defensive platform! He's been planning this all along, trying to get all the credit for this mission!_ Salient began to hyperventilate. _I can't believe this! He's leaving me out of the loop!_ Had he looked up, he would have noticed Jarelek noticing the computer connection between the two consoles.

There was only one thing for Salient Lyric, once MasterScientist of Entrol, to do.

He would have to design his _own _weapons platform technology.

It would have to be better.

And it would have to be fast, 'cause the Acheron was almost there.

**_Later…_**

"We are at the edge of the shadow nebula, sir. Thrusters holding position, not unidentified contacts in sensor range." Lambda materialized and reported in.

"Excellent." Williams tapped his comm badge/"Commander Samms, will you join us on the bridge?"/

"Yes sir, I am on my way."

"Lambda, take us in. Slow to impulse once we exit the Shadow Nebula."

"Aye, sir"

The mood on the bridge was professional and business like, but not somber or fearful. Roc sensed the change, and was happy. The crew should not be nervous of situations like this one, but they should be alert… Which reminded him, "All hands, this is the Captain. We will be maintaining a status of yellow alert while inside Borg space. I repeat, all hands- yellow alert." Now he was satisfied.

Samms stepped off the transpad and over to his station at tactical. "Sir, I have planned a survey route. Whenever you are ready."

"Good- Send the planed route to helm and we will be underway. Ensigns Lyric and Jarelek, your first priority in this endeavor is to aid Commander Samms in planning the defensive web. He will use your suggestions along with mine, and others to draw up the final schematics. Is everyone clear on the specifics of their duties?"

'Yes, sirs' ran together from all across the bridge. Roc waited a moment.

"Good. Let's do it." Roc turned toward his ready room door with a full confidence in his officers and their abilities. As a unit, the Acheron crew was still largely untested, but that was about to change. Just as Roc reached the door, a torpedo reached the unshielded hull of Acheron. The Captain was thrown from his feet and flung across the bridge, as were most of the officers there. Before anyone could react, a second torpedo followed the first. After two direct hits to the hull, Samms was finally able to raise the shields. Lambda's piloting avoided the next torpedo, but yet another followed behind it."

"Red Alert. All hands to Battle Stations! Report! …. Why am I laying on my back?" The Captain screamed above the mayhem.

"Sensors show four Borg contacts have de-cloaked off our bow."

"Return fire! Lambda, continue evasive maneuvers. Jarelek, transfer all available power to weapons and engines. We need to float like a butterfly and sting like a bee." The Acheron stood up on her starboard nacelle and snap-turned. Samms let fly a volley of resonator fire that dealt harshly with the closest contact. The other three fired again. Two more torpedoes impacted, but on shields this time.

"We are way out gunned." Roc observed. "Lambda, set course for the nebula." At that command, Captain Williams could feel disappointment enter the room; no one wanted to run. "We'll be back for them." He reassured himself as much as anyone else.

"Captain!" Lyric stood up from his post quickly, his eyes blazing with discovery. "Those 'contacts' are unmanned. It is like the Borg attached a computer mainframe, short-range sensors and a cloaking device to a torpedo tube. They are automated defense platforms!"

Silence.

"They beat us to it?" Samms broke in.

Roc answered, "Great minds think alike."

**_Upper Bridge…_**

Jarelek shuddered as he thought about all the Jefferies Tubes and other crawlspaces he would have to slither his way through to clean up the mess that was so unceremoniously made by the offensive Borg torpedoes. If there was one thing he hated more than replacing tachyon filtering grids, it was crawling through Jefferies Tubes… But such was the life of an engineer.

First, however, he needed to sheer the shield back up. The last blast had taken the Acheron's forward defensive shielding down to sixty-five percent which, for a ship as small as the Acheron, was either a tribute to Lambda's evasive maneuvers, or to Jarelek's wonderful engineering skills… or a combination of the two.

Deciding to go to the forward section to take a personal look at the damage, Jarelek stood up and his chair, which was hovering over its transpad, vanished back into the pad's buffer.

Since his "official" station was in engineering, Jarelek didn't bother asking permission to leave the bridge. He just left.

As Jarelek walked down the corridor, he tried contacting engineering.

"Engineering, this is Jarelek," he said, but there was no response.

"Engineering," he tried again, but still no one answered. Jarelek's brow curled in intrigue.

"Lambda," Jarelek said, and instantly the synthesized crewman appeared.

"What can I do for you, Mister Vulcan?" Lambda quickened his paced to match Jarelek's long stride. The two of them walked side by side as they headed to the forward saucer section.

"Lambda," Jarelek continued, "Run an analysis on internal communications."

Lambda cocked his head, blinked, and replied, "Sections are down. Deck four, the hydroponics bay, engineering, and the particle synthesis chamber have been cut off from the internal communications network."

Jarelek nodded. "Go to engineering and tell crewman Koloustroubis to get working on communications. She'd good at that sort of thing."

Lambda's head bobbed in compliance. "Will do!" He tapped his heels, spun around, and disappeared."

Jarelek, who had just arrived at the dining common, walked through the doors. The room was empty and the red lights were still flashing, which was strange because Captain Williams had cancelled red alert as soon as they retreated into the shadow nebula. Assuming that the circuits were fried, Jarelek ignored the jammed flashing lights and turned his attention to the small hull breach caused by the Borg torpedo. Emergency forcefields were holding firmly, keeping the air, and him, inside the ship, but that would definitely need repairing.

Taking out his tricorder, Jarelek faced the wall and made a full scan and digital image of the breached area. As soon as the 3-D image was complete, he submitted the information to the ships computer, which quickly processed it. Moments later, Jarelek watched as replacement pentonium alloy was fashioned and replicated into place to seal the breach. When the computer finished the replication-transport, the hull looked as good as new.

With such thus completed, Jarelek turned his attention to the dual quantum regulators in the wall which had been exposed and damaged. This would take a little more time to repair.

**_Bridge…_**

More silence.

Lambda continued his evasion of the torpedoes with mechanical efficiency, but Roc knew that in moments the Borg outpost would find a "pattern" and hit them every time.

"Lambda," Roc said.

"Sir?" the computerized figure responded.

"Take us back into the nebula. Then contact Starbase Ex Astris."

Lambda nodded, never turning from his controls. "Aye, sir."

The Acheron sailed into the nebula, two torpedo's black marks marring the hull.

**_Starbase Ex Astris…_**

Admiral Telik moved hurriedly across the vast area dubbed "Command." He reached a door in the corner and it opened at his approach. Fleet Admiral Tristan Errland III sat at the desk beyond. He looked up at Telik's arrival.

"Telik?"

"Greetings, Tristan."

A small pause ensued. Errland broke the silence.

"Umm...can I do something for you?"

Telik inclined his head, "I was wondering, sir, whether I might take the ol' Enterprise out for a proverbial spin around the sector?"

It was all Tristan could do to refrain from laughing hysterically. The Ensign standing behind Telik at a comm console was not succeeding and was running for the replicator "coughing" all the way.

"You want to do _WHAT?_"

Telik arched an eyebrow, "I read that in an old earth book. I decided to try it out."

The other Admiral shook his head, "Telik, it's great that you're trying to expand your horizons, but your lines need a little work, ok?"

Telik almost smiled, "Aye, sir."

"Sure, you can do a test run in the Enterprise." Errland grinned.

Telik nodded and left. Then, and only then, did Tristan break down into fits of laughter.

**_  
USS Enterprise I…_**

Telik checked the crew roster...he was the only one on board. Normally one would need at least fifty officers to run a ship of the Enterprise's size, but one of the upgrades Starfleet had installed changed that.

"Computer," Telik began as he moved and sat in the center seat, "enable solitary command protocols. Authorization Telik-alpha-zeta-omega-six."

The computer beeped a reply and a ring of consoles rose up out of the floor to surround the command chair. Telik tapped a few commands and the Enterprise undocked. Soon after it was soaring through space like an eagle.

(Salient, insert anti-cliché spray here)

A short time later the computer beeped at Telik.

/Incoming transmission from the Starship Acheron./

"On screen."

The face of Captain Williams replaced the stars.

Telik frowned in confusion, unsure of why Williams was contacting him. He should be out in Sector 443 overseeing the construction of an early-warning defense system.

"Captain, is there a problem?" Telik inquired.

Williams set his jaw, "Yes, sir, there is. A rather massive one in fact."

The Admiral's left eyebrow rose, "Oh?"

"Sir," Roc said in a near whisper, "the Borg are already here. They've constructed four defense platforms in this sector. Not only that...they're already operational! I'm not sure what to do."

Telik twisted his mouth a bit and inclined his head. A favorite pastime.

"I'm dispatching two ships to your location immediately. The Kirk and the Titan. They should be there within three hours. Your objective ultimately remains the same, with one minor difference. You are to capture the platforms using whatever means necessary. You will then commandeer them and convert them to Starfleet specs...or something along those lines. Report back to me when you have completed the task, or if you need further assistance."

Roc nodded, "Understood. Acher--"

"Oh, one other thing, Captain." Telik interrupted, "Do be careful. Enterprise out."

The screen returned to the peaceful view of the stars. So much unlike Captain Williams' present situation. Telik offered a thought of good will toward the Captain, and then continued guiding the great vessel named Enterprise through the heavens.

**_ Bridge…_**

"Okay Gentlemen, listen up!" The Captain emerged from his ready room and took charge. "I have our new orders." Roc then noticed the Chief Engineer, who had popped from behind a console and was now staring blankly at him. "Carry on, Mr. Jarelek. Your first priority at the moment is the well being of this ship."

"Yes sir." Was the simple reply, and the Vulcan disappeared again.

"The Kirk and Titan are currently on their way to our position, when they arrive we will be going back after those platforms. It will be job to disable and then commandeer them. Disabling them should be easy, but it is going to take some creative engineering to actually pirate a Borg defense network" The Captain smiled. "More on that later."

'Aye sir's came from around the bridge, and Roc returned to his ready room.

As the door closed behind him, Roc leapt over his desk, which was situated against the wall beside the door, and landed in the overstuffed recliner, that sat in place of a traditional desk chair. A single PADD and a bottomless mug of black coffee would keep him occupied for the next few hours. Contained on the PADD, now in his lap, was the data collected by the Acheron sensors on the Borg weapons systems. It appeared to Roc that they were still incomplete. Minimal shielding... little hope for self repair, and only twelve torpedoes on each platform. All of these factors would play a part in the plan that was growing in Roc's mind.

**_Engineering…_**

There was a time in every Vulcan's life when the horrors of war, the terrors of death, and the fear of annihilation all subsided and the glamour of his most amazing accomplishment shone brightly like the sun breaking through a cloud-covered sky. That one major accomplishment was something that every Vulcan considered to be a milestone in his life, and Jarelek had just achieved it… and now that he _had_ found his way back to engineering, he set his mind to finishing the task of designing his quantum Xeroxer. He suddenly remembered that he had left a very important person out of the loop when informing the proper people of his research. Hopefully this person's brilliant insight would help Jarelek quicken the pace of his research, so he set about notifying Lambda of his experiment.

Jarelek tapped out a message to the helm console where Lambda would conceivably be located, but before he could send the message, Lambda suddenly appeared beside him.

"I already know of your experiment, Mister Vulcan." Lambda announced.

Jarelek raised an eyebrow in curiosity. He said nothing, but focused a look of expectancy on Lambda, which prompted the apparition to continue.

"You store all of your research in the computer banks!" Lambda snorted, "That just like storing it in my brain! In fact, it is storing it in my brain."

"Ah," Jarelek nodded his understanding, "I see."

A tiny gin played across Lambda's face. "You know…" he said, "Lyric knows about it too."

Jarelek nodded again. "Yes," he said, "I am aware of that. I caught him monitoring my research while on the bridge. That is why I have relocated to my office in engineering."

"So…" Lambda prompted Jarelek to continue.

Sighing at the prospect of continuing the conversation when he could be working, Jarelek turned back to Lambda. "So what?" he said.

"So," he replied, "Are you going to ask him to work with you? He is the science officer after all."

Jarelek's brow curled in curiosity. He hadn't considered asking the Entrolian to work with him. Jarelek was able to tolerate Salient Lyric… in moderation. But to work with him on a project would be, shall one say, an opportunity to test his patience and resolve. And although Lyric had a tendency to irritate Jarelek, he was a brilliant fellow. Very well, then.

"Very well, then," Jarelek replied. "Tell ensign Lyric to meet me at the bridge's upper level engineering station. We will work on the Quantum Xeroxer there."

Lambda smiled, his eye gleamed, and he disappeared in a flash.

**_Science Labs 'Prime'_**…

There were three experiments to conduct.

1. Salient took one (1) earth poultry, draped it in a lead apron, and placed it in the Science Lab's tachyon suffusion chamber. He left it in the chamber for five minutes. Purpose: Salient was hungry. Result: Not quite as good as KFC.

2. Salient isolated, in space near the Acheron, three different pairs of collinear spatial strands, the dangerous ethereal ties that bind the universe into a cohesive whole. Using the invaluable research of the Delphi, members of the Federation that had long since been assimilated into the Collective, Salient was able to efficiently analyze the strands, as well as plot their cause/effect radius. Purpose: A desperate attempt to outdo a Vulcan in sciency stuff as revenge for leaving him out of the picture. Result: The strands were located and catalogued. In addition, Ensign Sevlon was relocated to sickbay pending antennae reattachment surgery.

3. Salient took a blender, a tuning fork, and a spittoon into his personal lab, and failed to emerge for approximately 46 minutes. Squishy, spitting noises ensued. Purpose: Unknown. Result: Science division really grossed out.

"EUREKA!" screamed the scientist as he exploded from his lab. He dashed for the door, blender, tuner, and spittoon in hand. A particle projection began to coalesce - Lambda, about to inform Lyric that Jarelek wanted him to look over the plans for the Quantum Xeroxer - but Salient was crazed and charged for action. He had to get the plans to the captain before Jarelek could finish his.

Down the transpad, Out the door, Across the hallway, Over the ducking crewman, Into the bridge, GRAAAB THE CAPTAAAAIN, Out of the bridge, Over the ducking crewman, Into the ready room, CLOSE THE DOOR! - Safe! He made it.

The Captain was just about to cook him and have him for dinner - he would've even been MM-MM good too. He was rather perturbed that Ensign Lyric had hurried him off the bridge in the middle of work.

"Captain," gasped the exhausted Entrolian, "I've completed the preliminary designs of a breakthrough defense platform technology. I wanted to show them to you personally."

"Well, that's great Mr. Lyric," said the still-perturbed Captain Williams, "but why didn't you just hand them to me, or send them in a report?"

Salient stuttered. "I... wanted to... sort of..."

The captain said knowingly and accusingly, "You wanted to get it in before I made a decision on the Quantum Xerox technology. You were hoping to one-up Jarelek."

"I... well... yeah. Yes, sir, that is."

Williams sighed, and looked out the window. "There's a very pertinent biblical axiom that you should consider, Mr. Lyric. 'A house divided against itself cannot stand.'"

"Yes... sir. But look! Take a look at this. This, my captain, is gold." Salient activated the padd's particle projection display feature. An image of the Borg's torpedo launching platform appeared. "You know about Collinear Spatial Strands?"

"I know that they have been rarely experimented on since the twenty-fourth century."

"Yes. The strands are pairs of invisible, intangible spatial conglomerations of energy that run through all places in the universe. Since the Enterprise D accidentally opened a gateway to a parallel universe during experimentation, they have been largely left alone. Also, the race primarily responsible for much of our knowledge of spatial strands, the Delphi, were assimilated by the Borg long ago. All we know about these strands is that they exist, and that they seem to vibrate according to the events transpiring around them."

"Okay." Roc Williams looked intently at Lyric. "This is very theoretical ground. Where are you going with this? And why do you have a spittoon in my ready room?"

"Well... I don't know." The scientist looked confused for a moment, then recovered and grinned. "But I've isolated the basic frequencies of vibration of the collinear strands. For instance, I can tell you, by analyzing a spatial strand, if a large vessel is moving into the area at faster than light speed. It creates a significant vibration at a particular frequency."

"Go on."

"Spatial strands don't just vibrate according to the events, Captain. They vibrate _with _them. If the vibration doesn't happen, the event doesn't happen." Salient was almost literally hopping with glee now.

"Wait, wait... I think I see... no. No, keep going."

"The problem that the Enterprise D encountered was indiscriminant application of vibration. Because the vibrations of these strands is so very complicated, just shaking it up can rip holes in the fabric of space. Ergo, alternate dimension. But we can create semi-controlled vibration."

The Captain frowned. "I think I see what you're getting at. If a Borg ship entering our space creates a vibration in a nearby Colinear Spatial Strand, then if we counter the vibration, the Borg ship simply cannot enter our space."

"Perfect!" Salient threw a fist in the air in victory. "When can we implement it!"

"Now, hold on. Nobody's implementing anything. There seem to be several key problems. We would need a wide base of power."

"The Borg platforms have plenty."

"We would have to be located next to a collinear strand."

"They're all over the place."

"You don't have a name for this technology."

"I call it my Collinear Reverberation Utilization resulting in Demotivation Device. Or CRUDD, for short."

Just then, Jarelek swished through the door. "You asked to see me Captain?" The Vulcan raised one eyebrow at the captain and lowered the other at Lyric. "I did have an appointment with Mr. Lyric to go over my plans for the defense platform technology, but apparently he was busy."

Williams threw his hands towards the ceiling. "You two are the most hard-to-live-with thing since people who eat garlic bread spread!"

"Mr. Lyric, while your research has been superb and your plans for a defense platform are very well thought out, you are part of a team. I cannot allow members of my crew, especially officers, to conduct themselves in the manner in which you have done so in this endeavor." Roc paused strategically. Lyric didn't move, breath or blink.

"You are to continue your duties as Chief Science Officer; however, I must mandate that you attend a series of counseling sessions regarding your people skills. Your science work is excellent, but you must be able to work alongside Mr. Jarelek and for Commander Samms. Understood?"

"Yes, sir." Lyric was suddenly sheepish.

"Dismissed." The Entrolian did so, and Roc turned to the other officer in the room. "Mr. Jarelek, I trust that, in the future, you will not make it quite so difficult for him."

"I will work toward that end, sir."

"Good. Now, prepare the ram- scoop to hold some good ole' shadow nebula."

"Sir?"

Roc smiled. "The Borg cannot venture inside the Shadow Nebula because some particle in the nebular gasses disconnect them from the Hive mind. Correct?"

"Yes, sir."

"Well, when the Kirk and the Titan arrive, we are going to take the Nebula to those defense platforms."

**_Bridge…_**

The image of three Starfleet ships in echelon formation is very intimidating, but unmanned platforms are rarely overwhelmed by physiological warfare alone.

The USS Kirk, a small fast border patrol ship, guarded the Acheron's left side while the USS Titan, a middleweight attack cruiser, took up station on the Acheron's right. The Acheron herself is most easily described as a frigate-lightweight but heavily armed, fast and maneuverable but packing quite an offensive punch. As the three ship formation entered weapons range they came under heavy fire from Borg weapons, but they did not retaliate. Moving at a brisk pace, they held formation and drove closer to the offending targets. With collision alarms sounding, all three Captains held their course. At the last possible second, the formation was broken and the preplanned maneuver was executed. Titan dove left, behind the other two ships and dumped her cargo of Nebular gasses on one of the platforms. It ceased fire. Kirk dropped down out of the formation; also spewing bottled-Shadow Nebula. The Acheron stopped dead in her tracks, making a deposit just off her bow, and all three ships fired at the last remaining platform, destroying it utterly. The formation was re-made just outside the small section of shadow nebula they had just created around the Borg platforms.

"Shields at 83, main power holding fast, sir." Samms reported triumphantly from Tactical.

"Excellent, and the other ships?" Roc asked.

"About the same. I don't have as much detail on them, though."

"Good enough. There you go Daniel- three Borg platforms, dead in space and disconnected from the hive mind. Enjoy!"

The Commander smiled full-face, "Yes sir." He turned and craned his neck up at the second level of the bridge and called out, "Jarelek, meet me in transporter room one, and be sure that your uniform's shield generator is fully functional because we're going  
zero-G!" Samms was charged with energy and it was contagious. Roc grinned, he liked to see that enthusiasm out of his officers.

"Mr. Lyric," The mood changed suddenly, "I believe you have… an appointment."

"Yes sir." He growled.

**_  
Borg Defense Platform…_**

Materializing in zero gravity was a unique experience. One moment Jarelek weight 187 pounds, the next he weighed nothing and his ears were bouncing at the sides of his head. Although he had passed his zero-G training every year, Jarelek never enjoyed the experience. At any rate, Samms and Jarelek floated effortlessly in space a few inches away from the dormant Borg defense platform. Activating their suits' propulsion systems, they jetted themselves closer, and were finally able to latch onto the boxy platform. Jarelek felt his grav boots activate as he placed his foot down on the metallic surface. He felt a wave of dizziness as his brain reoriented itself to the new center of gravity, but he soon felt as if he were standing upright on a stable platform.

The Borg defense platform still glowed green with energy. All the systems were active, Jarelek knew, but were simply inhibited by the shadow nebula that had been dumped around them. Jarelek looked at Samms. He, too, had oriented himself, so the two men began their awkward, zero-G walk to the first control node.

Yes, previous scans indicated the presence of an external control nodes that regulated the platforms commands and its link to the hive mind. Commander Samms had suggested that if these nodes could be reprogrammed, the platform's internal security systems could be disabled and the away team could be beamed inside to begin a little assimilation of their own.

A minute or two passed, but Jarelek and Samms eventually reached the node. It was a bulbous little thing with no obvious functionality, but Jarelek's tricorder indicated a great deal of processing going on inside. The Vulcan glanced up at Samms, who merely returned his confused stare. Neither of them knew what to do now. So Jarelek kicked it.

Nothing happened.

Samms bend over and wrapped his hands around the small node and tried to twist it.

The node didn't budge.

Jarelek scratched his head, a habit he had picked up from Ensign Lyric… Why the Entrolian did that, Jarelek didn't know. If he had any hair, Jarelek might suspect lice, but Salient was, since the last mission, inward smirk bald.

Shaking his head, Jarelek tried to focus. In a normal situation, Jarelek would follow his natural instinct, which just happened to be his engineering motto: If it works, tear it apart and find out why. But they'd tried to manipulate the little thing, and unsuccessfully. But then, Jarelek had a thought… If they wanted the node to stop working, what better way to accomplish that than…

Jarelek took out his rifle, stood back, and blasted. The little ball shattered into a thousand tiny pieces and floated away, never to be seen again. Jarelek felt a power surge under his feet. The soft vibrations of power flowing within the platform slowed, and finally stopped.

Samms nodded his approval. "Samms to the Acheron, we're ready to be beamed inside."

There came an acknowledgement from the bridge, and the two men vanished from space, only to reappear moments later inside a narrow corridor, decorated like a typical Borg ship. Green pulsed quietly through power conduits. The automated equipments made distant clacking and clanging sounds, causing Jarelek to be on constant guard even though the station was completely unmanned.

It was only a short walk to the central plexus where Jarelek knelt down and began to poke and prod at various hardware systems Samms could not identify.  
In a matter of minutes, Jarelek was buried almost waist high in panels, pipes, conduits, transformers, and other various trinkets he'd pulled out of the walls. Now, he fidgeted with his tricorder as he tried to decrypt the controls for the main power systems.

Suddenly, an alarm on Jarelek's tricorder began to chirp loudly and obnoxiously.

"What's that?" Samms insisted, looking nervously over Jarelek's shoulder.

Examining the readings of his tricorder, Jarelek came to a panic-striking conclusion. "The nebula mass around the platform is dissipating."

"What!" Samms burst out as he fiddled for his commbadge. "Samms to the Acheron! Acheron… come in!"

There was no response.

Jarelek was still reading his tricorder. "It seems that the nebula around the platform lacks sufficient mass to sustain itself. It is dissipating at a rapid rate which is accelerating." Jarelek's voice was completely calm as he simply analyzed the situation.

Suddenly, the two men were alerted to the fact that the Borg platform had re-established a connection with the hive mind when two Borg drones materialized on either side of them. Samms yanked out his rifle and fired. The first drone fell backward and died. Jarelek charged at the second, ramming the butt of his rifle into its face. The drone stumbled backward, but didn't fall. Jarelek promptly fired and the drone disintegrated.

"Jarelek!" Samms yelled, "We need communications back now!"

**_Bridge…_**

For the second time in just over 2 days, an unsuspecting, unshielded Acheron was his with a Borg torpedo, and this time, her Captain was angry.

"Shields, now. Return fire, Chief." As Commander Samms was onboard the Borg defense platform with Jarelek, the Tactical console was manned by the most senior non commissioned officer on board ship, Master Chief Duane Roberts. The battle hardened, Chief needed no prodding. Before the offending ship could react, the Acheron had reciprocated. The Titan and Kirk also made offensive passes on the massive diamond-shaped ship that had appeared. The Borg seemed unfazed, and proceeded with their customary "surrender your ships- resistance is futile" greeting.

Roc keyed open a comm/ Samms, can you hear me/

/ Yes sir. We've got company. /

/ So I've noticed. Do you have control of the Borg defense network yet/

/ No. /

/ If you could do that, it would make this fire fight much less complicated, Acheron out. /

Meanwhile...

Salient felt as though he were a delicious maggot, and everyone in the world were taking little bites. Ignoring the fact that most of the galaxy would consider maggots unpalatable, the dejected Entrolian felt pretty low. (It was probably a quirk of NO. psychology that brought up the maggot analogy).

In fact, it was for reasons of psychology that Ensign Salient Lyric had been ordered to attend his very first meeting with the ships counselor, the ambiguous Kravic Non. Joy.

He was very angry. Not only did he feel slighted by his fellow crewmen, his obviously ingenious plans had been completely overlooked by his captain. Of course anything he created would be leaps and bounds better than anything a mere engineer could invent. Never mind that the Vulcan had been working on his project since the Academy and Salient had started his last night over nachos.

And so Salient stalked down the corridor towards the office of Counselor Kravic, irrational anger causing him to lift his chin as high as his pride was low.

Then he was at the door. He pressed the chime. No one answered his call, and the door did not move. Hoping desperately that the counselor was not here, and he could miss his appointment without regret, Salient pressed the chime once more. Once again, there was no answer. Smiling, Salient almost turned to leave.

The door opened. Salient's smile fell.

Strangely, no one was within. The science officer peeked in, looked all around. He walked to the center of the room. It struck him that he knew nothing about this counselor he was meeting with. What kind of race had a name like Kravic Non? None that Salient was familiar with. Male or female? Salient didn't know. They would probably try to use some of that feel-good Terran psychology on him. "Well, what was your childhood like? Did you ever feel deprived? Despairing? Disconnected?"

The lights went out.

"Hey!" Salient yelled. "What's this about?" No one answered. He went towards the door, felt for it. Strangely, as he touched the cold metal, the door refused to budge. His first thought was that the power had gone out. How wrong he was.

How dark it was. And not just night-time dark, where there are stars and other shades of darkness. Dark like post-heat-death-of-the-universe dark.

"Did you know..." Salient started at the noise. This was not his voice. "Did you know that most bipeds, when left in an utterly lightless environ for more than eight minutes, will lose all sense of personal balance, and be unable to stand upright? I wonder how long you'll last..."

The texture of the voice was like gravel. Salient's heart beat faster than it ever had. "Who are you, and what do you want?"

"Only... heh... to help." The voice took on a most unpleasant timbre. "And you do need help, my friend."

Salient gulped. A hand touched his shoulder, and he spun into it, attacking with the hard exoskeleton on his elbow. It connected with nothing, and Salient wondered if the feeling of the hand had been nothing but an overactive imagination. Maybe the dark, playing with him.

The voice spoke. "I notice that your hair is only beginning to grow back. How did it feel, on the surface of earth's moon, impersonating an Entrolian with _real_ power?"

Salient clawed at the door, forced it open, and fled into the stinging brightness of the corridor.

_**Bridge…**_

The little frigate shuttered once again, as a torpedo found its mark despite Lambda's attempts to evade it. Of the three Federation ships in the system, Acheron was the smallest, and thus, the hardest to hit. Titan and Kirk were taking the majority of the abuse, while Williams and crew scooted into a tactically pleasing position and fired off a few shots of their own.

Captain Williams was counting on his officers aboard the Borg defense platform to turn the tide. If they could neutralize the automated weapons, the Borg ships would be greatly outgunned, and forced to retreat, Williams hoped.

**_Borg Defense Platform…_**

It wasn't the coziest spot in the universe to be lying on one's back, staring up with a sense of awed mystery at what looms above, but nonetheless, there he was on the Borg defense platform, flat on his back, staring up in complete bewilderment at the underside of the central connectivity hub which, somehow, he needed to disable in order to deactivate the automated weaponry that so cruelly mistreated the desperately maneuvering Federation ships as they ventured to defend themselves against the Borg onslaught.

Reaching up to the hub, Jarelek manually disconnected a computer response port. His action resulted in a pleasing, draining sound as power ceased to flow through the conduits.

"Report Jarelek!" Samms said as he bashed his Raven gun into the face of a Borg drone who seemed very displeased at the Federation intrusion. The drone promptly flopped to the floor, it's mechanical components clanking against the cold, metallic floor.

"I've shut off power to the port half of the platform, commander." Jarelek replied as he continued to work.

Samms turned about and looked for another fight. "That's not good enough, ensign! Get the other half turned off quickly!"

"I am endeavoring to do so, sir," replied Jarelek as calmly and indifferently as if he were replying to one of Lyric's unbearably annoying, and disturbingly common, anecdotes about whatever random subject that occurs to him.

Hearing the mechanical footsteps of a Borg drone heading his way, Jarelek stuck his foot out just in time to trip the newly materialized drone, sending it sailing to the floor. He heard a resonator blast and peeked out from underneath his hub just in time to watch the body vaporize.

"I think I have it, commander," Jarelek said, turning back to his work. Deactivating power… now."

As Jarelek disconnected another set of ports, he heard another draining sound, and power ceased to flow to the aft section of the platform. But power immediately returned to the port section, and the platform resumed firing.

"Jarelek!" Samms shouted above weapons fire, "What is going on down there?"

"A moment, commander," Jarelek replied, "I will correct the problem shortly."

The platform continued its malicious volley on the Federation ships. It was a deadly barrage of continuous fire, until suddenly…

"Mission accomplished, commander," Jarelek announced triumphantly as the sounds of flowing power completely stopped and the entire platform went dark and quiet… no more advancing drones, no more flashing, green and red lights, and no more turrets firing on the Federation ships.

"Great work, Jarelek!" Samms congratulated. "Samms to the Acheron, the platform has been deactivated. We're ready to beam aboard!"

**_Bridge…_**

"Mr. Thomas, get them back here, now!" Roc's response was without hesitation. "Lambda, focus on the spheres. Disable or destroy."

The Avatar responded between jarring shield impacts, "Aye sir."

In a moment, both Commander Samms and Ensign Jarelek were beamed back to their respective posts on the Acheron's bridge. Samms stepped up to the tactical console and tossed aside the Raven rifle in his hand. The composite material that made up barrel and stock rang out as the weapon bounced twice and then came to rest. The Lieutenant that Samms had displaced at the tactical station was qualified, but inexperienced, and the presence of a seasoned ship handler brought new life to the Acheron's attack. The tide had turned. Both spheres were neutralized within minutes. One of them was completely destroyed by a devastating volley of resonator fire and the other appeared to be dead in space, leaking atmosphere.

Roc spoke as the Titan came around for one final pass. "Commander, keep them in our crosshairs. I don't want to be surprised." Samms nodded. The Titan came about and opened up. The sphere shuttered and finally broke up under the barrage.

"Stand down to yellow alert." Roc, and everyone else on the bridge breathed a sigh of relief.

"Uh… Captain?" Ensign Thomas, at Ops cleared his throat nervously and continued, "I have another Borg ship entering the system. It's big."

"Resume Red Alert. How big, Ensign?"

"Exactly 10 kilometers cubed." The Ensign was white with fear.

Captain Roc Williams sagged back in his chair.

"Ensign, _what_ exactly did you just say?"

The officer swallowed, "There's a Borg Cube entering the system that is approximately ten kilometers cubed. Uhh...give or take a few kilometers."

Williams rolled his eyes. Just when they thought were in the clear. He quickly ran some calculations in his head about quantum physics and random numbers paired with three Federation starships and a gigantic Borg cube. A Vulcan would have been impressed with his mental handiwork. (Er, mental mindiwork.) Roc began pounding numbers into the controls of his center seat.

"LAMBDA! Set course for the following coordinates, instruct our two friends to follow. ENGAGE!"

The ship's avatar turned around. Of all the most inopportune times to turn around...

"Captain," Lambda spoke slowly and calmly, "those coordinates do not appear to have any type of importance to this mission."

Roc shot from his chair with a growl, bowled Lambda out of the Helm, and smashed his fist into the large, blinking, red, circular icon. The Acheron didn't just engage, it jumped to warp like an ugly man on a trampoline (if you know what I mean). Williams didn't even have to walk back to his command chair. The inertia of the warp drive threw him there. Full-service starship flying. Gotta love it. (Insert beautiful stewardess with bags of peanuts here.)

After the Captain caught his breath, no small task, he glanced at Lambda, who hadn't bothered to pick itself up off the floor and seemed to enjoy piloting from the deck-plating. Shaking his head, Williams turned to Lyric.

"Salient, are there any other ships in the area who can come to our aid? Assuming, of course, that he cube is on pursuit course..." Williams inquired.

Lyric looked down at his console for a moment. "Well, sir, if you scale the quadratic equation down to a factor of two, add the scalar fifth of one-half, multiply by three Entrolian squid-forms, and subtract six-point-two, I'd say that the only ship within sailing distance of here is the Enterprise. May I also remind you that it doesn't have a crew."

Roc nodded, "It does have a crew, Mr. Lyric. Admiral Telik is on board for a maintenance run."

"HA!" Salient snorted, "You call that Vulcan a 'crew'? Psh, Vulcan's can't do nothing." he looked over at Jarelek who was giving him the eyebrow, "Uh, I mean, It would be hard for one man to drive a ship...uhh, right?"

Roc Williams ignored Salient Lyric.

"Lambda, put a call through to the Enterprise. High priority." the Captain ordered. "I've got a plan."

**_Enterprise I, Bridge…_**

Telik nodded at Williams as he reviewed the maneuvers.

"Sound good to you, Admiral?" Roc asked.

Telik cocked his head, "It is hard to say if it will work successfully; however, I am willing to try."

Roc shrugged, "Let's do it!"

Telik cut the connection and turned to the circle of panels around him. He activated the mental link, and brought the helmet down over his head. It was time to do some real flying. With a twist of his mind the ship went to red alert. With another thought the weapons were locked onto an empty point of space. With a third blink, the entire ship was linked into a part of Telik's mind. In essence, Telik was the ship, and the ship was Telik. In a flash of light, the Enterprise set off on a course to intercept the Acheron.

**_Acheron,_** **_Bridge…_**

The Acheron, Titan, and Kirk darted around the massive Borg cube taking shots whenever an opening was found, but mostly just up trying to stay alive as the Enterprise was en-route.

"Mr. Jarelek, how quickly could you set up your Xerox array in a shuttle?"

The Vulcan cocked his head to the side and raised his eyebrow as he answered, "It would only take a few moments to modify the sensor array to act as a Xerox scanner, but the emitters are beyond my current capabilities."

Roc blinked... several times. This was unforeseen. "I thought you said that-"

"I am still perfecting the theories of Quantum Xerox, Captain."

The Vulcan's disposition was stereotypically calm.

/ CAPTAIN/

The comm did not chirp, it just shouted.

/ I apologize for my breech in protocol /

"What are you talking about, Mr. Lyric?"

/ I know that placing audio sensors on the bridge of a Starfleet ship without permission is a very serious offense, but please, hear me out. I have been listening, and I may have a solution to our current difficulty. I do have a prototype of the CRUDD device. /

Captain Williams took a moment to connect the very disconnected statements made by his Science Officer through the Comm.

"Get up here." Before the very short sentence was finished, the Entrolian stepped off the transpad in the aft end of the bridge, and began speaking again.

"Captain, my CRUDD device is just a prototype, but it should have enough power to vibrate a collinear spatial strand that should render the Borg cube heavily damaged. The combined firepower of Enterprise, Acheron, Titan and Kirk should be more than enough to destroy the ship after that." Lyric's tone and pitch rose as he spoke with more and more animation. "The only catch is that, in doing so, CRUDD could open a rift in the time space continuum, I would suggest that the ships be as far away as possible when the CRUDD is activated."

"What is the probability of that happening?"

"Well… I don't really know, but as I said, I believe it would be wise to move the ships away from the Borg cube when the CRUDD is activated."

Roc thought for a moment, and then realized that the risk really didn't matter as there were no other options."

"Do it!"

Lyric didn't hesitate, in an instant he was back on the transpad. The Science officer didn't hear the next statement.

"Jarelek, go with him and provide assistance."

Jarelek did hesitate.

"Please?..."

"I will make myself available, but I do not believe that Mr. Lyric will-"

"Just go… and do what you can."

Jarelek raised an eyebrow. "I will."

**_Shuttlebay…_**

Lyric wasn't even materialized yet when he leapt joyously off the shuttlebay transpad - unfortunately, in his semi-solid state, he left his left arm and leg behind, prompting the Acheron to un-materialize him and re-materialize him once more.

Five minutes, and Salient had every piece of the CRUDD device loaded into the shuttle. He grabbed a random green-collared crewman for manual labor, leaped into the craft, and had her cranked up as the bay doors opened.

It was then that the shuttlebay's lights began to flicker.

Salient looked in the shuttlecraft's rear-view vidscreen... and when he saw who was approaching, had a conniption. He attacked the Bay Door Open button with three limbs. The shuttle's rear door slowly... ominously... horribly grated open. The lights flickered, the door screeched, and a dark, powerful form drifted up the ramp, lights blinking on and off in rhythm with his step.

Salient sweated, not daring to turn around in his seat. Finally, unable to stand the tension any longer, and aggravated with himself for being so unnerved, he leapt from his pilot chair to confront the dark form.

No one was there.

He stumbled, unable to believe it. He had been sure - the footsteps were so loud!

A breath on his neck caused his hair to stand on end. He spun to attack, elbow extended. A strong, sure hand caught Salient's attack and spun the Entrolian to the side. Salient collided with the hull of the shuttle and sat heavily on the ground. He looked up.

Above him towered the Counselor. Kravic Non, the Cardassian. Tall, lithe, and serpentlike, the Counselor had a dark assurance in his eye that he was in control of every mental aspect of any situation. "And where..." he rumbled, "do you think you're going?"

Salient bit. "Following orders, Cardassian! This is my mission! Get off my shuttle!"

The serpentine grin appeared, feral and wicked. "You are in no condition to be gallivanting about on your own. Your mental state is far too unbalanced. You need... a dominating... hmm... helpful hand."

Salient jumped up and railed. "Not if Dar held my head over the Lake of Insidious Nostril Invaders!"

"You speak as though you have a choice." And Kravic lashed a pair of stun-cuffs to Salient's left hand, applying the other side to his own. Enraged, the Entrolian lashed out, but the shuttle's autopilot engaged, throwing him backwards, into the unwillingly helpful arms of Jarelek.

"Aack!" Salient cried. "Where did you come from?"

Jarelek stared dispassionately (and slightly disgustedly) at the short Entrolian in his arms. He had walked in when Salient was distracted. "I am the voice of reason in the chorus of chaos. Get out of my arms."

Salient seethed. The random expendable crewman in the co-pilot's seat shuddered.

Floating among the stars in a small, quiet shuttle craft was a peaceful, serene feeling. When one laid back in his seat and gazed at the enveloping heavens, one could believe he were the only person in the vast, incredible universe. However, sharing that experience with a Borg cube six thousand times one's size allowed for a certain feeling of dread and terror and, coupled with having a looming, precarious Cardassian and a maniacal Entrolian at one's side made for quite a detestable experience.  
So, instead of savoring the moment, Jarelek merely sat at the helm of the ship, trying to dodge the sabers of weapons fire being hurled by the Borg ship, but meeting with only limited success.

"Mister Lyric," Jarelek shouted above the loud droning and whining of the Entrolian's equipment, "I would appreciate it if you would quicken your assembly of the…"

A smirk plastered itself onto Salient's face. "Say it!" he said.

"Your Collinear Reverberation Utilization resulting in Demotivation Device." Jarelek stated.

"No," Salient shook his head. "Say it!"

Jarelek was silent.

"Say it!" Salient's insistent demand quickly turned into a taunting chant. "Say it! Say it! Say it! Say it!"

Jarelek rolled his eyes. "The Crudd."

"HAHA!" Salient made a valiant attempt to jump up and dance wildly around the shuttle, but was yanked back down by his ball-and-chain Cardassian councilor.

"I'm finished!" Salient announced bitterly, glaring menacingly at Kravic Non. "It would have been a lot easier though if this Spoon-headed Ogre weren't CHAINED to my wrist!"

"Unstable…" said the councilor with a sigh. His dark eyes carved their stare into the Entrolian's very soul. "You will learn how to deal with life, my young Entrolian, but only with my help."

Lyric sneered maliciously at his Cardassian captor. "I don't need your help to live my life! I was perfectly happy with it the way it was before we became best buddies! It's my life! Not yours! My life! Just ask Forest Gump!" Lyric pointed to the chair across the room where sat a slim, charming looking fellow dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt.

"Yeah," said the man, his slow, southern accent seeping into his every word, "Momma always said that life is like a bowl of terranut soufflé… once it's gone, you'll regret you ever had it."

Then, with a sniff and a sob, the man stood and sulked his way to the transpad, and vanished from sight.

Lyric, Jarelek, and Non looked at each other in awkward silence. Then, with no further regard to the matter, returned to their duties as if nothing had ever happened.

"Firing up the CRUDD!" Lyric announced.

"Excellent," Jarelek replied, sounding as overjoyed as a man when being forced, under his father's law, to marry a hideous scone of a woman at once, or perish ignominiously upon the scaffold.

Salient looked, but found that he'd left his anti-cliché spray in his quarters.

"Ahh," Salient laughed loud and long. "The power! …Which string should I pluck!"

The tiny shuttle suddenly quaked under the considerable influence of a Borg quantum resonator, if it could be referred to as such.

"Stop the Borg vessel from firing," Jarelek's tone was urgent, but not panicked.

"Ah, an excellent idea my Vulcan know-it-all!" Then, with a stretch of his fingers and a crack of his knuckles, Salient set to work programming his equipment to vibrate the correct collinear strands. He took but a few moments to punch a few buttons and turn a few knobs, and then he was finished. "Activating…now!"

As soon as he said it, the Borg ship, as seen through the shuttles portal, ceased it's firing. Jarelek scanned the cube. "It appears that all weapons systems are still fully operational," he said, "Yet they are not firing." Jarelek raised an eyebrow. "Curious."

Salient laughed and giggled with glee. "It worked! It worked! I'm a genius! HAHA! It's medals and promotions for me! Supper with admirals! My own ship! Wheeeee!"

Kravic Non, irritated beyond repair, yanked the Entrolian down once again, putting an abrupt end to his victory prance. Lyric was about to protest, but the console began to blare wildly. "What's wrong!" Lyric demanded.

Jarelek glanced at the panel, then out the portal, and finally at Salient. "The Borg ship has set a collision course for the Acheron," Jarelek said casually, "Impact in twenty-three seconds… The Acheron does not have sufficient time to move away."

**_Bridge…  
_**  
Roc had never seen a shadow fall on the bridge of a star ship, but that was exactly what he was observed when the massive Borg cube turned on a dime, and set a collision course for the dwarfed Acheron.

Roc watched in horror as the Titan and Kirk broke formation and cleared themselves from danger. Everyone knew that there was not sufficient time for the Acheron to do the same. The ginormous cube bore down upon the Acheron. Roc and the bridge crew braced for the impact they knew would destroy their ship.

Without warning, The Borg cube stopped. Roc, confused, opened one eye and saw the ship that literally filled the view screen.

"Get us out of here, Lambda."

"umm... Aye sir." You know it's a bad sign when even the computer is confused.

/ CAPTAIN/

Again the comm didn't chirp, it only cried out in triumph.

/ It works! I don't believe it, it really works/

"Mr. Lyric, Your confidence is inspiring."

"Ahh… well... What I mean is, of course it works. /

Roc rolled his eyes, "Destroy that thing, but give us a chance to get clear."

/ Aye sir. /

"Lambda."

"Aye sir."

The Acheron rejoined the Titan and Kirk a safe distance away and watched as power grids fluctuated in various points on the stationary cube. Spontaneous explosions littered the square, and the computer registered an 80 power loss.

Suddenly, the Acheron, Titan and Kirk were rocked by an unexpected shock wave that threw crewmen and officers to the floor.

"Report!" Roc yelled from the deck over the alarms that were sounding.

"Mr. Lyric's CRUDD device has opened a tear in subspace."

"Hail the shuttle."

"Sir, it would appear that the shuttle was heavily damaged, and is drifting toward the rift." Roc looked up at the ensign with which he had been conversing. She was tall and slender. Strange, he thought, that he should notice such a thing at such a time.

"Can you raise them?"

A pause, "No sir, they are not responding."

"That rift will destroy an unshielded shuttle." Roc spoke, but not to anyone particularly.

"Lambda, take us within tractor beam range." Before Lambda could respond, the sleek lines of the Enterprise I dove between the Acheron and her wayward shuttle. A tractor beam was locked and the shuttle was pulled free from danger. The comm chirped, and Williams gestured for a connection.

"Captain Williams, I believe this belongs to you." Telik wasn't making an attempt at humor, but humorous he was nonetheless.

_Captain's After Action Report:  
USS Acheron- Gamma Squadron Flagship  
Captain Roc Williams_

The actions of the Starfleet ships Acheron, Titan, and Kirk were unsuccessful in original intent. The primary goal for these three ships was to create an automated early warning and defense network just outside the Shadow Nebula in order to insulate the GCF from Borg and NO attacks. The Acheron arrived on station and discovered a Borg net nearly identical in functionality being constructed.

The presence of automated Borg defenses leads me to believe that the Borg are greatly disturbed by the presence of the GCF and that our ultimate mission, to take pressure off of the Alpha and Beta Quadrant fleets, is being accomplished. In my experience, the Borg are an assault and conquest minded species. Nothing in their tactical repertoire even resembles a defensive maneuver. For the offensive Borg to raise automated defense deep inside their home territory, leads me to believe that the GCF is, at present, successfully distracting the Hive mind.

The Acheron employed a technology recently developed by Ensign Lyric called the CRUDD device. I do not fully understand the inner workings of this device; however, I do know that it is not safe for future use. It saved the Acheron from destruction, but it also acted erratically and formed a sub-spatial tear that nearly destroyed the shuttle that was deploying the CRUDD device. More attempts to control the device and use it again have failed. I recommend that Starfleet not attempt any farther development of the CRUDD technology.

As to the performance of the Acheron's crew, I have many great things to say. Every officer and crewman did an excellent job in the face of danger and in some quite unorthodox circumstances. The poise, which they showed, is a sign of fine officers. They operated with an efficiency that cannot be taught in any academy. Special note should be made to Ensign Jarelek. He, more than any other person on board, handled difficult situations with ease. I whole-heartedly recommend Ensign Jarelek for promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade. I also, with some reservation, recommend Ensign Salient Lyric, for promotion to Lieutenant Junior Grade. Ensign Lyric is an indispensable asset to the Acheron and her Captain; however, he still has a great deal to learn about working as part of a team. I believe that, despite his interpersonal shortcomings, that Mr. Lyric will develop into a fine officer.

_Ensign Jarelek's Personal log, stardate 91204.7,_

The Acheron's first solo mission ended in a peculiar mixture of victory and defeat. While we failed in our orders to erect an early warning system, we did manage to eradicate the Borg presence in the area, and we also reaffirmed my original assumption that tampering with the threads of reality that compose the very foundation of this universe is not a logical course of action.

I am looking forward to the Acheron's next endeavor. I have recommended to Captain Williams that he contact a cadet or two about joining our crew when we return to base. I hope to see a fuller crew working together next time we leave space dock.  
This mission was a unique learning experience. Humans are an unusually varied race of people. From Commander Samms' jovial, carefree attitude to Captain William's single-minded devotion to duty, each emotion, every experience is different for every human. It's amazing they can even manage to be functional people; yet somehow they manage to flourish and succeed at almost everything they do. Speaking of unusual people, serving alongside Salient Lyric is both an experience no one should miss and a torture I would not wish on anybody. Yet, despite his obnoxiousness and immaturity, I find myself looking forward to working with him in the future.

End log.

_Salient Lyric's Personal Log, Stardate: 91204.7_

Had five cheeseburgers today, after getting back from shuttle mission. Near death experience plus being chained to Cardassian plus being held in arms of Vulcan equals large junk food appetite. Scheduling extra time in null-grav fitness chamber.

Captain recommended discontinuation of CRUDD research to Command. Tried to tell him, "Genius is 1 Inspiration, 1 Salivation, 1.7 Domination, 1 Fulmination, and 95.3 Consti-" and about that time he said I was dismissed. Think he meant from his ready room, hopefully not from Starfleet. We'll see. If from Starfleet, checking on brochures from Ferengi Alliance... incidentally, they have a very nice ear care package.

(Hiding prototype CRUDD device in extra-very-super-crazy-secret hiding panel in lab. Don't tell.)

Grabbed a pile of random Borg technology from space platform. Don't have a clue what it does. It moves around every few minutes. Have now seen it try to assimilate my blender, a left-over broom, and my paper mache Kravic Non voodoo doll.

Mission was extremely productive. Got to show off brilliant science expertise and installed secret surveillance devices on bridge (in case of hostile takeover, we would have means to record conversation). Ripped a hole in subspace - always fun. Got Jarelek to raise eyebrow at least four times, and twitch once.

Ouch! Stupid Borg pile just stabbed me with some kind of tubule. Feeling kind of sleepy now. Time for bed.

End log.

Post-Mission Analysis

Admiral Errland's Annotations:

_This is the weirdest crew I have ever seen_.

Salient's Notes: _Again, this was a great mission. We still, of course, get better, especially with the addition of our next crewmember, Aldius Akone! Another incredibly complex and fun character. This mission is followed by mission 2.5 – the Acheron's second fleet mission. Another fun one. Everything in this one was strong – the action and plot were pretty good, we got to fight the Borg, and it was funny, and there was inventing, and charactering! Just an all around strong mission – possibly my favorite so far._

_Of course, you can see where the whole Lambda Lambda Lambda thing is going… something's going to have to be done with that computer! Although… he was lots of fun. Heh… In my opinion, and I don't know about everyone else, but this was the mission that Jarelek really finally began to come together. His voice is starting to form, his relationship with the rest of the crew is cementing, and the writing is simply exquisite to read! _

_Oh! And Kravic Non! Kravic is my all time favorite NPC… he's mysterious, you don't know anything about him, and he scares the crap out of everybody. Fun, fun… Daniel Samms also starts to evolve, and interestingly, one of his big steps has to do with the Borg and Kravic, coming up in the next fleet mission. Keep an eye out!_

_On a selfish note, I also got to add my two NPCs too! Ensign Buxcroft and Ensign Sevlon are my two scientist, two-dimensional NPCs. They have no real importance in the story except to provide fun and depth to Salient (or whoever else wants to use them – Jarelek did once… haha… in pon-farr… but that's another mission)._

_And yes, the CRUDD and Quantum Xerox. Fun stuff. They'll come back later, I'm sure (since Salient hid his in the 'extra-very-super-crazy-secret hiding panel' in his lab, and since Jarelek's Quantum Xerox will go on to win awards and medals and all kinds of happiness. I find it amusing and rather unlikely that Salient would be able to develop and prototype an ultra powerful super weapon in three days… especially one that rival's one of Jarelek's inventions… but maybe that says something about Entrolian paranoia and jealousy and Salient's personal scientific coolness. We'll see. Also, Salient was assimilated, leading to the Ode to Assimilation, which I shall now add for your reading pleasure… or punishment._

Salient Lyric's Kithara Komposition 87  
'Ode to Assimilation'

Have you ever awoken to the sound of a drone  
Of mindlessness never abating,  
And you find that your body is no longer prone,  
But instead is regenerating!

Your left eye tingles, your right arm detaches,  
To say nothing of less visible places...  
And while a rocket launching thumb might interest some,  
Alcoves are not comfortable spaces.

So you get out of 'bed' with a hiss and a whirr,  
And you find that you not only creak,  
But a steel exoskeleton is your constant chauffeur,  
And must be oiled five times a week!

So you head off to work, and to your dismay,  
The friends you once knew scream with fright!  
It might be the tubes jutting from your left hand,  
Or perhaps the chainsaw on your right.

You go to the Captain - a coolheaded sort,  
Knowing that he'll understand.  
You'll just explain - he'll be a good sport.  
He might even shake your... left... hand.

"A pile of Borg junk I left in my lab -  
A mistake anyone could commit..."  
But the Captain saw tubules erupt from your hand,  
And all that he said was "Oh, Blimey!"

A chorus of sisters, cousins and aunts,  
Accompanied you to the brig.  
But it wasn't the captain they threw in the clinker,  
While Hebe was dancing a jig.  
(_Oh, sure, you try to find something that rhymes with 'brig.')_

To say the extraction was agony incarnate  
Would be unforgivably weak.  
And the words 'Resistance' and 'Futile' and 'Is',  
Never again shall I speak.

They took my whole pile of Borg junk away,  
(Except for the stuff that I hid)  
But I _did _assimilate the captain's coffeepot,  
And it's no longer coffee under the lid...

So the moral is this -  
_Don't eat cheeseburgers before being assimilated!_  
And never take Borg stuff that looks pretty.  
But I've got Counseling sessions to attend,  
And I must bring an end to this ditty.

Jarelek Quote_: Bravo. I can't raise my eyebrow high enough.__You know, if you're really that bored, you're more than welcome to clean the tachyon filtering grid for me._


End file.
